Court orders daughter, bank to pay over B200m for theft

The Phra Khanong Civil Court has ordered a woman, two bank employees and a commercial bank to pay more than 200 million baht in compensation to a bedridden elderly woman in connection with the theft of over 250 million baht from her accounts.

The court announced its ruling on Thursday in the suit filed by Huay Sriwirat against her daughter Mawadee Sriwirat, four bank employees and Kasikornbank (KBank). Ms Huay demanded 350.35 million baht in compensation from them.

On Dec 29 last year, the Phra Khranong Criminal Court sentenced Ms Mawadee, 53, to 20 years in jail for forgery, using forged documents and theft. The court also sentenced Ms Thipaporn Daengsawat, who was a bank employee, to 2 years in jail for forgery and using forged documents. The court acquitted three other defendants of the charges.

Anantachai Chaidej, the lawyer of Ms Huay, said on Thursday that the Phra Khanong Civil Court ordered KBank to pay 44.64 million baht, including interest fees of 7%, starting from the day the suit was filed on Nov 19, 2019, and Ms Mawadee to pay 117.09 million baht, including interest fees of 7.5%, to the plaintiff.

The lawyer said the court also ordered the fourth defendant and the sixth defendant, who were bank employees, to jointly compensate the plaintiff, and the defendants will have to pay court and lawyer fees totalling 100,000 baht.

The court acquitted the third and fifth defendants in the civil suit, said Mr Anantachai.

Ms Mawadee remained in prison as the Appeals Court rejected her bail request.

In November 2019, Mrs Huay, then 76, had sued her daughter, the bank and four bank employees for stealing money from her two bank accounts while she was bedridden in 2014.

While Ms Huay was in hospital for treatment of coronary artery disease in 2014, the accused allegedly changed the condition for withdrawing money from her accounts from her signature to a fingerprint.

About 253 million baht had been taken from the accounts through many hundreds of withdrawals, according to the lawyer.